Cheeseburger Casserole is a one pot, 30 minute recipe that’s outrageously good. Beefy, cheesy and saucy, it tastes like cheeseburgers in pasta form. It’s a homemade Hamburger Helper – a tastier and much healthier version of the popular boxed pasta!
I love a good one pot recipe, and this one sits alongside reader favourites including Greek Chicken & Lemon Rice, Sausage Bake with Vegetables and Gravy, Baked Chicken with Garlic Butter Rice and the one skillet Asian Beef Noodles!
“It’s beefy, cheesy and saucy – Hamburger Helper tastes like cheeseburgers in pasta form!”
Cheeseburger Casserole
The first time I published this recipe, I said that I burnt my mouth taste testing this straight out of the pot.
And almost 3 years later, I’m saying the same thing – yet again, I burnt my mouth.
I took a small taste to check for seasoning. Had a swoon moment, then scooped up a huge spoonful and shovelled it in my mouth.
And totally scorched the entire roof of my mouth. OUCH.
Here’s an up close and personal look at the offender. Look at it. Can you blame me for my lack of self control??
Another ground beef recipe!
I’m a big fan of ground beef (mince) recipes because it’s economical, requires no chopping and it’s a terrific sponge for flavour.
So for those of you who put a packet of beef mince in your shopping basket this week, this Cheeseburger Casserole is for you! The key ingredients are fairly standard pantry items. And the items that are not can be substituted:
carrot, celery and corn are optional. Feel free to add other chopped veg
some subs available for the spices
The cheese is not optional. If you skip it, then this pretty much becomes a bolognese, hmm??
One pot! 20 minutes!
The beauty of this recipe is the speed at which it has to be cooked. You cannot cook the pasta for longer than 12 minutes, otherwise your sauce will disappear and you’ll end up with overly soft pasta.
It’s a 19 minute job on the stove:
Onion, garlic, celery, carrot – 4 minutes
Brown beef – 3 minutes
Add the other stuff and stir – 2 minutes
Cook – 8 minutes (no peeking!)
Stir & Cheese – 1 minute
Melt -2 minutes
TOTAL 20 minutes
(PS I used to work in finance. This is the extent of the maths I do nowadays 🤓)
This Cheeseburger Casserole is a recipe from my good friend Jo from Jo Cooks. It’s one of many fabulous one pot recipes in her cookbook, 30 Minute One Pot Meals.
I originally shared this recipe back in 2016 to celebrate the release of her cookbook. It was fabulous then, and it’s just as fabulous now. ❤️
Sometimes, I reduce the amount of pasta (because I always have half packets 250g/8oz lying around!) and up the veg quota. Zucchini and red peppers /capsicum are ideal. Jo also suggests topping it with diced tomato which is a great topping.
If you do this, then you might not need a side salad. But if you do, try your garden salad or steamed vegetables with French Dressing, Balsamic Dressing or my favourite Italian Dressing. Or make a big batch of Broccoli Salad that will last you days and days! – Nagi x
PS And if you feel like a total carb blow out, add a side of Better-Than-Dominos Garlic Bread. *She swoons at the thought and her skinny jeans are cursing*
More One Pot Ground Beef / Mince recipes
Chili Mac – mash up of Mac and Cheese with Chilli Con Carne, so good!
Asian Beef and Ramen Noodles – one skillet, 15 minutes
Taco Soup – don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, it’s amazing!
Browse all One Pot recipes and Ground Beef / Mince recipes
Cheeseburger Casserole
Watch how to make it
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Cheeseburger Casserole (Homemade Hamburger Helper)
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 small carrot * , chopped (optional)
- 1 celery stalk * , chopped (optional)
- 500 g/ 1 lb ground beef (mince) , preferably lean
- 12 oz / 340g dried macaroni , uncooked
- 1/2 cup frozen corn * , optional
- 2 cups chicken broth/stock, low sodium
- 1 tbsp hot sauce or Sriracha sauce , adjust to taste
- 1 tsp American chili powder (Note 1)
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp garlic powder , or sub onion powder
- 800 g / 28 oz crushed tomato
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1.5 – 2 cups (150 – 200g) cheddar or tasty cheese, shredded (Note 3)
- 1 cup (100g) mozzarella cheese , for topping
Garnish (optional)
- 1 green onion , sliced
Instructions
- Heat oil in a dutch oven or large deep skillet over medium high heat.
- Add onion and garlic, cook 1 minute.
- Add celery and carrot, cook 3 minutes until soft.
- Increase heat to high and add beef. Cook, breaking it up as you go, until no longer pink – 3 minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT cheese. Stir to combine, add macaroni, then turn down to medium or medium low so it’s simmering gently.
- Cover, cook 8 minutes. Pasta should be just about cooked, and still nice and saucy.
- Add cheddar cheese, stir. Top with mozzarella cheese.
- Cover with lid, cook for a further 2 minutes.
- Remove from stove. The pasta should now be cooked – tender but firm, not mushy, slick with sauce, not dried out.
- Serve immediately, garnished with green onions, if using.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
This is the same Dozer photo I shared when I first published this recipe back in 2016 – Dozer looking at Jo’s cookbook instead of the food.
We all know I was holding a treat just out of frame to make him do that.
But she loves the photo so much anyway, I can’t change it!!
I wanted to tell you that this was the best email from you EVER!!! First, growing up in a single parent home we lived on hamburger helper. After I got married Cheeseburger Macaroni was a staple for us. We love it. I quit making it because of the sodium content in boxed foods. This recipe came at the perfect time. My husband has been craving it. Yay!!! Secondly, I pinned every single recipe attached to this email. Yay number 2!!! I’ll make this casserole this week for sure. Thank you. I love your emails the best!
Message of the day!!! 🙂 N x
This is good 🙂
Can I freeze the leftovers?
What leftovers? Haha! Oh, maybe that’s just at my house.
HA!! And that’s a GOOD thing!!
I freeze American Chop Suey, which is very similar, all the time and it freezes, thaws and reheats very well.
I needed not more salt, but sugar to this one and I also used up the whole tub of tomato paste. Just needed more oomf. I realised this was not a Nagi recipe and it didn’t hit the flavour bomb for me like Nagi’s do.
John – when I made it again for video, I took your comment on board and tweaked it a bit 🙂 N x
Hi John, I’m so sorry you weren’t impressed with this one! I’ll revisit this one soon and look into it ❤️
I too would love a video – it is one of those easy dinners that I can get my 12 year old to learn to make and having your video helps her to learn how to read a recipe and follow it. (not like in my day when you get to the end of the recipe only to find that you were supposed to do something crucial at the start!!)
Hi Pippa, I’ll have to get a video on the way for this one soon!
Hi Nagi! This really does need a magic video…I call them magic cuz your video’s make the food taste better.
Pretty please with cream and sugar on it. 😀
(Dozer agrees!)
Oh I’ll have to revisit this one and make a video!
Please make a video. Thanks
Will try to get to it soon Elizabeth!
Hmmm, I think this needs a video…. Pretty pls? Videos help to ‘smell’ the ingredients!
The votes are IN and it’s happening!!! N x
A video of this recipe will the “icing on the cake” in a Texas kitchen.
Hi Rosemary, I’ve had a couple of requests so will try get to this soon!
I don’t know what I did wrong, but this just didn’t work for me–the only recipe from your site that I’ve ever tried that did not come out! I was so disappointed. Could it have been the brand of crushed tomatoes (I used Cento)? Or the tomato paste? Mine was very, very tomato-y and didn’t look even close to yours. Once I added everything into the pot, it was already a very thick sauce, and the pasta didn’t cook all the way. I also had to salt it considerably to get any flavor. Maybe I needed those extra 2 cups of water?
Thanks for sharing this recipe. Another one pot meal that was quick, easy, delicious! Adding this to my arsenal of midweek dinners to keep us fed (and me sane). 😊
Glad you enjoyed it Ev! Thanks for letting me know – N x
I love this site – the recipes are all so clearly written and just work.
Had this bookmarked for a while, it looked tasty but I’m surprised at how much flavour and how good it is for something so quick and easy.
No american chilli in the UK so used the suggested sub but with a bit of mexican chilli powder I had. Small tweak for next time, think I’ll up meat to 750g from 500g.
Its delicious though, all pizzery and cheesy and saucey – great recipe, great comfort food.
Yummy! I saw so many recipes that added milk and so desperately wanted to, BUT I’m glad I didn’t. This was delicious. My 2 year old didn’t even look up once as she was cleaning her plate and my ever so picky 6 year old said it was 2 thumbs up. Thank you!
That’s great Mel! So pleased to hear that! N x
Hi Nagi, I’m making this again tonight cuz it was so good the first time. I am loving so many of your recipes. Even if there’s something on the blog that I wouldn’t like, I have to scroll down to see Dozer no matter what!
Also your pictures are fantastic! I see that you have a book about food photography…any chance of a dog photography book in the future?! I wish I had some awesome pics like that of my dog! What a beautiful place you live.
Dog photography book! Gosh I never thought I that, I haven’t really focussed on taking “nice” photos of Dozer! Many of them are actually just iPhone photos!!
I seem to be vegetarian-ising all your recipes lately. Blame the vegetarian au pair I guess. I used a 400g tin of brown lentils instead of mince and it worked perfectly. Delicious and the kids had no idea!!
Woah, that’s such a great idea!!! I never would have imagined this would work with lentils! N xx
You’re welcome to the idea 😉
I made this for dinner tonight and we really enjoyed it. Thank you for the simple, quick and yummy dish!
I’m so pleased to hear that Cindy! Thank you for trying my recipe! N xx ❤️
Made this tonight and it was very good. Used Barilla whole grain pasta for the 1st time and couldnt tell the difference. Try it out its alot healthier. Used a 28oz can of carmelina whole san marzano tomatoes. This makes a big difference in flavor. You can get them on amazon. I skipped the cheese because im on a 1200 calorie diet, but added 1 wedge of laughing cow swiss (35 calories) to give it some creaminess. I also used 2lbs of ground chicken breast without doubling anything else because thats how i froze the meat. I added alot of chipolte chili pepper maybe about a tablespoon and couldnt find my oregano so i subbed basil about a tablesppon. Next time I would add some red pepper and some zucchini. Thanks for a great dinner!
It’s so great to hear you enjoyed this Eric! Thanks for leaving a review 🙂 N x
Perfect recipe, thank you dear.
I’m so happy to hear that Anastasia! Thanks for sharing your feedback – N x ❤️
Hi Nagi
I also have Jo’s 30 minute one pot meals book, I love both of your super quick recipes. I have a question about your your cheeseburger hamburger recipe. Your recipe is identical except Jo’s has said in directions to add 2 cups water and also 2 cups of chicken stock. Feeling unsure about adding the additional water. Please let me know what you think
Many thanks
Sue
Hi Sue! Unfortunately the publisher’s made a typo when converting the canned tomato between oz and g, so when I made this I used 800g which is 28 oz and 2 cups of broth, no water, and found it worked just fine 🙂 Extra water will make it a bit saucier and the pasta bit softer but it’s not a significant difference (surprisingly)! N xx
Hi I was wanting to make this for dinner tonight but I don’t have can crushed tomatoes. Could I use real tomatoes 🍅 and if so how would I get the tomatoes crushed!! Thank you
Hi Doreen! I whizz them up in a food processor or blender!
Thank you! Can I use can whole tomatoes or diced plum can tomatoes 🍅
Hi Doreen! You sure can 🙂 If you use whole, smush it up when you add it 🙂 N xx
This was a big hit with my family. Will definitely be making it again. So easy and delicious. Thank you Nag for all your amazing recipes
That’s fantastic to hear Dawn! Thank you for letting me know! N xx